Thoughts on the military and military activities of a diverse nature. Free-ranging and eclectic.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Moulin.

This is coolbert:

Jean Moulin. The Frenchman in the fedora with scarf.

Jean that man little known outside of France but that one man whose remains enshrined in the Pantheon, the ideal most epitomizing and exemplifying the French Resistance during World War Two [WW2] those in opposition to Vichy and the German occupier.

Moulin dying either by torture [at the hands of the infamous Klaus Barbie] or a self-inflicted death again after having been subjected to prolonged and frightful torture.

Jean without question a hero of the first magnitude, even "perhaps" beyond that of Joan of Arc?

"Jean Moulin, who unified [the] French Resistance, is one of the greatest heroes in France, perhaps supplanting even Joan of Arc."

"Yet he is completely unknown outside France."

At least until now that is.

And the betrayal of the man to the German still a subject of controversy even after seventy years!!

Those Free French of the Interior [FFI] under the command of General De Gaulle, Moulin specifically tasked with the mission of organizing the Resistance, creating a viable military force of the various guerrilla factions, BUT MUCH MORE THAN THAT!!

Moulin NOT A MILITARY MAN but an organizer and planner able to bring order out of dysfunction and chaos and bringing focused and concentrated energy where previously only dissipation existed!!

That FFI properly understood as MORE than a mere military force, NOT just guerrillas/partisan FIGHTING UNITS but also a civilian apparatus and PREPARING FOR THE LIBERATION OF FRENCH FROM THE GERMAN OCCUPIER and political transition in the aftermath of the war!!

Moulin FIRST able to unify the three non-communist partisan factions, those fighters most aligned with De Gaulle but practicing factionalism.

A unified military structure most desirable for concerted and focused military action under a single command, DE GAULLE ANTICIPATING AND PREPARING FOR THE D-DAY INVASION BUT NOT WANTING TO MAKE THE FRENCH POPULACE TO SUFFER GERMAN RETALIATION AND RETRIBUTION [Ouradour Sur Glane during the war just one instance]!!.

Moulin and De Gaulle wanting at some point to also incorporate into the French Resistance those communist and socialist elements and fighting units, again, the desire for focused and concerted action, military action to be taken as part of the Allied invasion of France and the subsequent battle that was to follow.

[guerrillas and partisans most effective when their operations in support of a conventional military campaign!!]

In addition to the fighting units, the consolidation thereof, Moulin also able to organize and bring under control:

* "Wireless Transmissions (WT)" [communication with England and De Gaulle.].

* "Bureau d'Information et de Presse (BIP), a central press agency for the Resistance, to furnish clandestine writers and editors with all the information they needed for their journals." [black, white and gray propaganda.]

* "Comité Général d'Etudes (CGE), a consultative commission of eminent jurists who would draft a plan for the political, economic, and administrative structures of France immediately after the liberation."

De Gaulle and his representative within the FFI Moulin knowing full well that the insurrectionist/guerrilla/partisan fighting elements ONLY ONE part of the whole, that structure of French government as existed prior to WW2 inadequate those Free French preparing not only for the D-Day invasion and the Liberation of France but for the aftermath of the war and inevitable political upheaval as well. The context properly understood steps and measures taken!!